ATTACK DRUG PROBLEM WHERE IT'S CONSUMED

Hillsborough Witness for Peace activist Jena Matzen's assessment that
the U.S.-funded drug war in Colombia is doing more harm than good is
right on the money. Plan Colombia could very well spread both coca
production and civil war throughout South America.
Communist guerilla movements do not originate in a vacuum. U.S. tax
dollars would be better spent addressing the socioeconomic causes of
civil strife rather than applying overwhelming military force to
attack the symptoms. We're not doing the Colombian people any favors
by funding civil war. Nor are Americans being protected from drugs.

Destroy the Colombian coca crop and production will boom in Peru,
Bolivia and Ecuador. Destroy every last plant in South America and
domestic methamphetamine production will increase to meet the demand
for cocaine-like drugs. As long as there exists a demand for drugs,
there will be a supply.

The self-professed champions of the free market in Congress are
seemingly incapable of applying basic economic principles to drug
policy. Instead of wasting scarce resources waging a futile
supply-side war abroad, we should be funding cost-effective drug
treatment here at home.

Robert Sharpe

Program officer, Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.